URBED have developed two courses with The Glass-House for training and empowering tenants and residents in the design processes that shape their built environment. Places by Design (now called Neighbourhood by Design) is a residential course developed for the Glass-House Project and the National Tenant Resource Centre. This runs over three days and teaches local people to produce masterplans (and therefore to judge plans for their area). This has been run for more than 100 community and tenant groups.

A follow-on course has been developed called Homes by Design which teaches residents about the design of residential blocks and housing interiors. For more information on the latest dates for the courses head to The Glass-House website.

The course has been developed into a format that can be taken onto estates. So far we have done 10 Places by Design 'In Your Neighbourhood' in Edinburgh, Barrowfields in Glasgow, Belfast, Plas Madoc in Wales and a number of estates in and around London.

The process is also used as a consultation vehicle by URBED where it is called 'Design for Change'. This has been used with communities in Housing Market Renewal areas in Oldham, Rochdale, Pendle and Liverpool as well as in the design of the Millenium Community in Telford.